Showing results by Desmond Shawe Taylor

The story of the British monarch who created one of the most stupendous art collections ever assembled. Published to accompany the exhibition that brings together works by Van Dyck, Rubens, Titian, Holbein, Mantegna, and Rembrandt, among many others. A major BBC TV series on the Royal Collection and a documentary on Charles I is planned.

2014 marks three hundred years since the arrival of the Hanoverians to the throne of Great Britain and Ireland. This book examines the period from their succession in 1714, through the reigns of George I (1714-27) and George II (1727-60) to 1760.

Holland in the seventeenth century presented artists with the most man-made landscape in Europe, and one which still exerts a fascination on our imaginations today. The human narrative within this painted landscape could range from depictions of peasants working and relaxing in the tradition of Bruegel to an evocation of aristocratic estates, where noblemen hunted and rode. At the same time other...

It is said that much of the greatest art is produced during periods of strife. In the mid-16th century, the Netherlands ? the United Provinces in the north (modern Holland) and the Spanish-ruled south (modern Belgium) ? was the most sophisticated society in Europe, but its learning and luxury industries were all but annihilated by the so-called Dutch Revolt and by the Eighty Years War that...

During the seventeenth century, Dutch artists were unparalleled in their dedication to depicting ordinary people doing everyday things. Genre painting was the preeminent expression of this dedication, offering candid glimpses into the peasant cottages and village courtyards of the Dutch Golden Age, each painting lit with the period's vibrant color palette and rich with radiant natural light....